While the number of domestic leisure travelers has increased dramatically in reform-era China, the persistent gap between urban and rural living standards attests to ongoing social, economic, and political inequalities. The state has widely touted tourism for its potential to bring wealth and modernity to rural ethnic minority communities, but the policies underlying the development of tourism obscure some complicated realities. In tourism, after all, one person’s leisure is another person’s labor. A Landscape of Travel investigates the contested meanings and unintended consequences of tourism for those people whose lives and livelihoods are most at stake in China’s rural ethnic tourism industry: the residents of village destinations. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Ping’an (a Zhuang village in Guangxi) and Upper Jidao (a Miao village in Guizhou), Jenny Chio analyzes the myriad challenges and possibilities confronted by villagers who are called upon to do the work of tourism. She addresses the shifting significance of migration and rural mobility, the visual politics of tourist photography, and the effects of touristic desires for “exotic difference” on village social relations. In this way, Chio illuminates the contemporary regimes of labor and leisure and the changing imagination of what it means to be rural, ethnic, and modern in China today.

The expansion of international tourism is changing the relationship between ethnic groups and states around the globe. Yet tourism’s importance for the understanding of ethnicity in the modern world has been generally neglected within the field of ethnic studies. This pioneering volume investigates how international tourism development, state policies of ethnic management, and the active responses of local ethnic groups intersect to reshape ethnic identities and ethnic relations in Asian and Pacific societies. It analyzes the ways in which the very meaning of ethnicity and culture are being contested and reworked in the wake of tourism’s impact. Following an introduction that explores the close but often ambivalent relationship between tourism promotion and state ethnic policies, individual contributors examine tourism’s varied effects in China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the island Pacific in rich ethnographic detail.

The book explores emerging themes, concepts, and issues in ethnic tourism, through examination of theoretical underpinnings and empirical research in various ethnic destinations worldwide. It encapsulates cultural, environmental, and economic dimensions of ethnic tourism, which is a force of change in many ethnic communities and suggests means through which local benefits can be enhanced and costs reduced. This book presents a range of case studies from diverse well-known ethnic destinations which reveal the various outcomes and changes engendered by ethnic tourism, such as the commodification of ethnic culture, the exploitation of minority peoples by outsiders, and the impact of wider forces of modernization and national integration policies. It summarizes what has been done so far and suggests initiatives to increase the contribution of tourism to the economic development and quality of life of ethnic communities. It brings together a diversity of perspectives that are not currently readily available in one location. The book will appeal to students, and scholars interested in social sciences, tourism studies, geography, anthropology, sociology and economics, as well as in applied disciplines such as planning. It addresses academic and professional audiences that are interested in tourism and its consequences, as well as those who are interested in ethnic, including indigenous peoples, and their circumstances.

Ethnic tourism has emerged as a means that is employed by many countries to facilitate economic and cultural development and to assist in the preservation of ethnic heritage. However, while ethnic tourism has the potential to bring economic and social benefits it can also significantly impact traditional cultures, ways of life and the sense of identity of ethnic groups. There is growing concern in many places about how to balance the use of ethnicity as a tourist attraction with the protection of minority cultures and the promotion of ethnic pride. Despite the fact that a substantial literature is devoted to the impacts of ethnic tourism, little research has been done on how to plan ethnic tourism attractions or to manage community impacts of tourism. This book addresses the need for more research on planning for ethnic tourism by exploring the status and enhancement of planning strategies for ethnic tourism development. The book develops the case of a well-known ethnic tourist destination in China -Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. It analyzes how ethnic tourism has been planned and developed at the study site and examines associated socio-cultural and planning issues. The authors evaluate the perspectives of four key stakeholder groups (the government, tourism entrepreneurs, ethnic minorities and tourists) on ethnic tourism through on-site observation, interviews with government officials, planners and tourism entrepreneurs, surveys of tourists and ethnic minority people, and evaluation of government policies, plans and statistics. This book is unique in its emphasis on planning and in its focus on China, rapidly emerging as a major player in tourism, with applications for tourism around the world.

This book represents a shifting of emphasis away from the discourse of authenticity to the process of authenticating ethnic tourism. It focuses upon what authentication is, how it works, who is involved, and what the problems are in the process. By using the study of folk villages on Hainan Island, China, the book suggests that authenticity evolves from a static into a more dynamic concept, which can be formulated according to the different stages of development relating to all the stakeholders involved. Authentication is an interactive process in which a balance of forces defines a state of equilibrium. The book uncovers some interesting findings that will significantly contribute to the literature on ethnic tourism in developing areas. "Finally, here is a way to move beyond old debates about authenticity in tourism studies, with a pragmatic, useful approach for analyzing `authentification' processes. Xie's models of stakeholders' interactions and the paradoxes encountered in ethnic tourism development have worldwide application for academics and stakeholders themselves."Margaret Swain, University of California, USA

At the interface between culture and tourism lies a series of deep and challenging issues relating to how we deal with issues of political engagement, social justice, economic change, belonging, identity and meaning. This book introduces researchers, students and practitioners to a range of interesting and complex debates regarding the political and social implications of cultural tourism in a changing world. Concise and thematic theoretical sections provide the framework for a range of case studies, which contextualise and exemplify the issues raised. The book focuses on both traditional and popular culture, and explores some of the tensions between cultural preservation and social transformation. The book is divided into thematic sections - Politics and Policy; Community Participation and Empowerment; Authenticity and Commodification; and Interpretation and Representation - and will be of interest to all who wish to understand how cultural tourism continues to evolve as a focal point for understanding a changing world.

In fewer than three hundred years tourism has become a global service industry of great economic, cultural and political importance. Published to critical acclaim, the Encyclopedia of Tourism - now available as a Routledge World Reference title - is the definitive one-volume reference source to this challenging multisectoral industry and multi disciplinary field of study. Comprising over one thousand entries, this volume has been written by an international team of contributors to provide a comprehensive guide to both the manifest and hidden dimensions of tourism. It explores the wide range of definitions, concepts, perspectives and institutions and includes: comprehensive coverage of key issues and concepts definitions of all terms and acronyms entries on the significant institutions, associations and journals in the field country-specific tourism profiles, from Greece to Japan and Kenya to Peru thorough analysis of the trends and patterns of tourism development and growth. The extensive cross-referencing and comprehensive index will assist the reader in making links between the diverse aspects of tourism studies, and the suggestions for further reading are invaluable.